1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to information distribution, and more specifically to distribution and processing of information in a fantasy sports game.
2. Description of the Related Art
In online fantasy sports games, such as fantasy football, baseball, hockey, golf, and automobile racing, a user can create a fantasy team. The fantasy team includes fantasy players that are based upon real-life players. The user's fantasy team may compete against fantasy teams of other users. An online fantasy sports game typically includes a player selection phase followed by a game play phase. Ordinarily, the player selection phase occurs between real-life games, and the game play phase occurs during real-life games. The game play phase typically occurs on game days, which are days on which real-life sports games are played. Statistics of players in the real-life games, such as points scored by each of the players, are used to determine the winners of the online fantasy games. The users of online fantasy sports games are typically users of an online service.
The users may access the fantasy sports games via a computer-based interface, such as a Web site. In the games, each fantasy player typically corresponds to a real-life sports player, and the fantasy player may have the same name and statistics as a real-life sports player. The statistics may include an average number of points scored per game and other measures of performance. A user chooses a limited number of players for a team with the goal of creating a team that will score the most points. The points scored by a team are ordinarily calculated as the sum of the points scored in a real-life game by the real-life players corresponding to the active fantasy players on the team. Therefore each fantasy game takes place on the same day as a corresponding real-life game. A number of rules restrict the eligibility of players to play on a particular team on a particular day. For example, a player who is injured in real-life on the day of a game is not eligible to play in the game., and a player may not be permitted to play in more than ten games for the same team.
To make good decisions about which players to add to their teams, users should locate and read relevant information from multiple information sources. In particular, users should read the statistical information associated with real-world players, real-life news articles about real-life players, news about which players are being chosen for other fantasy teams, news about players being offered for trade by other fantasy teams, and status about users' own teams, such as incomplete lineups. However, these statistics and news items are available from different information sources and often require substantial time and effort to locate. For example, users must explicitly search for relevant news items for players of interest, and users must monitor their teams to ensure that the teams' players are eligible to play in upcoming games. Therefore, to reduce the time necessary to gather the information needed to create and manage a competitive fantasy sports team, it would be desirable to gather multiple information sources into a single source that presents the aggregated information in a timely and manner convenient manner.